The Afterlife

I woke up after what seemed like a long nap. I tried to get up from the bed but I realised that I was not on one. To my disbelief, I was floating. I looked down and also realised that I do not have a body nor a face. I was perplexed and nervous. I shouted till my throat started to ache but there was no one to hear. Other than a faint white noise everything was silent and I was involuntarily moving in a straight line. The room I was in was like a tunnel with dark green coloured walls and shiny white dots which resembled the stars. I suddenly stopped and turned right and floated for a few seconds before I stopped again. A female voice was heard from above. 

"Greetings Rahul. You have died in your past life due to a bike accident.", said the voice.

"Who are you?", I asked.

"My name is Amei and I am in charge of this place".

"Is this place heaven?"

"I am aware of the concept created by humans about heaven and hell. This place though is different from the tales, it goes by the same principle".

"Are you God?"

"No, I am a messenger.

"My wife! Kavitha! I was riding a bike with her when the accident occurred. Is she alive?", I asked. 

"Yes, she survived the crash and mourns every day for you."

"She is a sweet woman. I only wish my heart had space for her".

"You have been a good samaritan in your previous life. Hence, we are providing you with another life with any one of the wishes you wished in your previous life. You will be reborn as a human in a random place and family with erased memories of the previous life. The one thing you can control is you can pick the wish from the previous life and add it to your new life ".

I was amazed at my existence in a place where no other living human knows. The concept of heaven and hell is indeed true. Suddenly my eyes closed on itself and I started to relive all of the times I wished for things in my previous life. The list was huge and I was embarrassed at how greedy I was with certain wishes. After thinking for some time I chose the wish which was close to my heart. 

"I wish to be reborn as Sandhya's dog", I said. 

"You have the chance to be reborn as a human. Animals though will retain their memories, it is usually given for people whose virtue and sin are of equal amounts. Your virtue is of more in number than your sins. Do you really want the life of a dog?", questioned the voice. 

"Sandhya and I were in love for the past four years and we broke up a year back. After she got married to someone else I also was married to Kavitha through an arranged marriage. I thought the marriage would help me heal my wounds. However, it only worsened it. I put in all of my efforts yet I could not feel love for my sweet and caring wife. She is my best friend, yes but that's the maximum my heart can accept her. My love for Sandhya blocks any feeling I wanted to grow for Kavitha. I took care of Kavitha and made her happy in all other aspects but when it came to love and lust my heart beats only for Sandhya. After the breakup with Sandhya, I could not see any other woman like that, not even my wife and I would do anything to be with Sandhya again."

"Interesting. Your loyalty towards your love seems to be very unique and it is something that other humans do not usually possess. However, I can also see that one of your wishes is to be born again where you and Sandhya meet and fall in love at the age of 18 instead of 25 so that you can have those extra seven years with her. Aren't you interested in that?"

"I am aware that Sandhya and I are not perfect for each other and we might end breaking up again in the new life. Spending extra years with her is great but I can't handle another second of the excruciating pain of a breakup. If I am to be reborn as her dog, even though the life span is only 10-15 years, it is a guarantee that she will love me with all her heart and it would never end in a breakup".

"As you wish", said Amei after which the floor of the room broke apart into pieces. I fell off the room free-falling for what seemed like an eternity and eventually lost my consciousness. 

I woke up in a comfortable bed. My eyes struggled to open at first. I looked around and realised that I could see only shades of green and blue. I tried to rub my eyes but my hands could not reach them. I itched my ears and realised that my ears are abnormally long. I suddenly heard a loud voice and a girl came running towards me. It was Sandhya in her school dress. She lifted me and hugged tightly. I never felt happiness like this before.